I know it's a little old but it's still a useful list of tools and gubbins that this chap lists as his indispensable list for .NET development and general Windows shizzle:

Ultimate Developer and Power Tools for Windows

Installed Windows 8 on the HTPC at home. Went back to Windows 7 in the end. Why? In my opinion, it can't make up its mind as to whether it's a desktop or tablet OS.

Windows 8 and why it's a desktop disaster

Now, I'm not saying that it's a bad OS. It certainly looks very pretty and I'm sure on the Surface (no pun intended) that it's brilliant. However, MS need to really think about the desktop market and perhaps look to release an update that either allows user to choose between a desktop and tablet mode rather than forcing them to use both on any machine. Give us back our Start button!